PORTER RICKS : ANGUILLA ELECTRICA [ Tresor ]

€26.50

"Ever since their initial singles were released in the mid-1990s and became international calling cards for the Chain Reaction label, the Porter Ricks duo of Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig have represented that crucible point in which techno music leaked into new social environments and became the background music for cutting-edge cultural critique. Their submerged “scuba” sound, presented in dark tone colors and reverberating to infinity, is now instantly identifiable as one of the ‘soundmarks’ of Berlin club culture. Just as importantly, it is still a palpable aftershock of a pre-millenial genre explosion that saw deep dub, shimmering post-rock, abstract hip-hop and art-damaged noise all drinking from the same well of inspiration. Together with restless international collaborators such as Kevin Martin, and theoretical thinktanks such as the Mille Plateaux label, Mellwig and Köner were key players in a larger decentralized rebellion against musical monoculture. Their stated desire to make unexpected timbral shifts as important to their compositions as rhythm, along with their indifference to concerns like public image, set up a situation that critic Kodwo Eshun picked up on early on (no pictures or interviews act as shock absorbers…the full force of their inexplicable sounds falls around your ears.)"